Baylor
Iowa State
SB Readies for Iowa State
4/17/2019 4:18:00 PM | Softball
Lady Bears have won the last 11 contests vs. the Cyclones
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BAYLOR LADY BEARS (17-24, 2-11) Location: Waco, Texas Conference: Big 12 Head Coach: Glenn Moore Roster | Stats | Game Notes |
BAYLOR (17-24, 2-11) vs. IOWA STATE (24-18, 1-8) April 18 - 20 Waco, Texas • Getterman Stadium Baylor Social Media:    |
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IOWA STATE CYCLONES (24-18, 1-8) Location: Ames, Iowa Conference: Big 12 Head Coach: Jamie Pinkerton Roster | Stats | Game Notes |
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By Jerry Hill
Baylor Bear Insider
With ace Gia Rodoni out for the season with knee and hip injuries, and fellow senior pitcher Regan Green sidelined for six weeks with a stress fracture in one of her ribs, Baylor softball coach Glenn Moore didn't have options in the circle.
"Our hands have been tied, like, this is what we've got. Either it's going to work or it's not. We can't really deviate," Moore said of a dire situation that saw him start sophomore Sidney Holman (10-15, 3.84 ERA) in the Lady Bears' first dozen Big 12 games. "Now, we can deviate and try some things."
Part of that was seeing junior first baseman Goose McGlaun (1-1) toss a four-hit shutout in a 6-0 win over Lamar in the opener of Tuesday's doubleheader at Getterman Stadium and freshman Kassidy Krupit (1-0) throwing three shutout innings in winning the nightcap, 2-0.
"You've got to keep it in perspective. Lamar's not having an outstanding year. They're not Iowa State," Moore said. "But the fact that (McGlaun) was able to go in and keep a run from crossing the plate was big. We don't need a full game out of her. We just need her to come in and give the hitters a different look one time through and throw a couple innings."
Even bigger than that was getting Green (2-4, 3.10) back in the circle for the first time since March 6, when she faced one batter and got the save in a 4-1 win over Texas State. She threw two innings in the second game of Tuesday's doubleheader, giving up two singles with no walks and one strikeout.
"It was incredible," Green said. "To be out there and helping my team, oh my gosh, it was so worth it. I love being back."
Green's healthy return gives Moore options and the Lady Bears (17-24, 2-11) hope as they begin the stretch drive with a series against Iowa State (24-18, 1-8) at Getterman Stadium with games at 6:30 Thursday and Friday and 12 p.m. Saturday.
"Just the psychological point of it with Sidney knowing someone could come in and help her out rather than just stay in there and have a bad couple innings that you don't have the offense to recover from," Moore said. "Now, we might be able to squelch that a little bit. Not just Regan, but what we've been able to get out of Goose and Kassidy as well. We have some options now. For so long, we had no options. Live or die, sink or swim, with Sid."
Before Green's injury, the Lady Bears were at least keeping their head above water, starting off 13-9 with wins over a pair of top-25 teams in South Carolina and Louisiana. But, after sweeping McNeese State in a March 12 doubleheader, Baylor lost 14 of its next 16 before the two shutouts against Lamar on Tuesday.
"I'm not going to lie, it felt good," Moore said. "Right now, it doesn't matter who's on the other side of the field. You just need to find small victories. I don't even think those were small victories for us right.
"We're having trouble getting in synch with each other and just playing consistent, fundamental softball. And we were able to do that and put two complete games together. I'm very grateful for the way they haven't thrown the towel in, because it would have been easy to do. And when you throw the towel in, anybody can beat you."
Green said it was "very hard to watch my team and not really be able to do anything" as she gave her rib time to heal.
"It's been very hard, just because I know I'm not allowed to do anything and I couldn't help Sidney out on the mound," Green said. "That was hard for the team and hard for me to watch her, too, because she was having an awesome season. When you don't have anyone else to help you pitch, it's hard."
Green's return, plus the emergence of McGlaun and Krupit, at least gives the team options against an Iowa State team that his hitting .265 with 31 home runs and a .418 slugging percentage.
Sami Williams leads the Cyclones and ranks seventh in the Big 12, hitting .396 with 11 homers and 26 RBI. In the circle, Emma Hylen is 11-7 with a 3.02 ERA, three saves and 75 strikeouts in 109.0 innings.
With only six of the seven teams qualifying for the Big 12 Championship, this series will go a long way to determining one of the final two spots in the field.
"It seems like we should look at it that way," said junior outfielder Madi O'Neal. "But right now, honestly, we are looking at one pitch at a time. We're not looking at this as a whole – if we win, we're going to the Big 12 tournament. Right now, we're thinking one pitch at a time. As long as we focus on that, and win each inning, then ultimately that will help us win the big picture."
STORY LINES
• Baylor returned to its winning ways with a sweep over Lamar in a doubleheader Tuesday evening. The Lady Bears recorded back-to-back shutouts for the first time this season. Prior to Tuesday, BU had only shut out Sam Houston State, 7-0, on Feb. 15.
• Nicky Dawson continued her spectacular defensive play in both games on Tuesday. The junior entered Tuesday with a career high of five assists in a game four times in her career. In each game against Lamar, Dawson recorded six assists.
• Goose McGlaun threw her first career complete game shutout in Game 1 vs. the Cardinals. McGlaun gave up only four hits through seven innings.
• Kassidy Krupit picked up her first career win in the circle in Game 2. She pitched three innings and gave up only one hit.
• Lou Gilbert and Ana Watson each recorded a multi-hit game in Game 1. Both freshmen went 2-for-2 at the plate.
• Josie Bower was had a two-RBI double in the second inning of Game 2, scoring McGlaun and Taylor Ellis.
• With six hits in each game vs. Lamar and 10 hits in the series finale vs. Texas Tech, BU has recorded at least six hits in three-straight games for the first time since finishing with at least six hits in 11 of the first 12 games.
• Six different Lady Bears recorded a hit in Game 2 vs. Lamar. That marked the 11th time at least six Baylor players have a recorded a hit in a game this season.
• Baylor is 12-5 when scoring first in 2019.
• The Lady Bears are 14-3 when the opponent scores two runs or less this season.
• Regan Green was named the Big 12 Pitcher of the Week March 5, marking her first career Big 12 weekly award. It is also Baylor's first weekly award of the season. Green pitched a complete game in the win over Southern Utah and matched her career high with 11 strikeouts. She struck out 50 percent of the batters she faced (22). It also marked her fourth career double-digit strikeout game.
• Nicky Dawson reached base safely in 32 straight games to start this season. That is good enough for fourth in program history behind Kaitlyn Thumann 44 (2013), Lindsey Cargill 36 (2017) and Shelby Friudenberg 33 (2017).
QUICK HITS
• Baylor will play 24 games against 12 programs that advanced to the 2018 NCAA Regionals, including WCWS participants Washington and Oklahoma.
• Baylor is 270-99 over the last 7 seasons, averaging over 38 wins per season since 2013.
• BU was picked 3rd in the Big 12 preseason coaches poll behind Oklahoma and Texas.
A LOOK AT IOWA STATE
• Baylor has won the last 11 games vs. the Cylcones dating back to 2015.
• Sami Williams leads Iowa State with a .396 batting average and a team best 11 home runs. Twenty-eight of her 55 hits have gone for extra bases.
• ISU comes to Waco off a 2-0 win over UNI Tuesday night. Freshman pitcher Shannon Mortimer gave up two hits in her complete game performance in the circle.
